Explanation: The Galileo spacecraft
orbiting Jupiter continues to return impressive results. The
Galileo team
has just released three more photographs of Jupiter's
volcanic moon Io taken in June.
These three photos
are reflected at the bottom of the above picture, digitally enhanced
to better show important features. Some areas of Io,
it now appears, are truly red, not the usual green and yellow
hues recorded previously. In fact, the last major mission - Voyager
- did not have cameras sensitive to red light. This red material
appears to be associated with recent volcanic eruptions,
and the red color appears to fade with time. Comparisons of these
photos with 17-year old Voyager photos
show that about a dozen surface regions -- each the size of Connecticut--
have been affected by Io's active volcanoes.